Marches are an important style of music that has been around for centuries.
The first marches were military pieces intended to accompany and regulate
the footsteps of soldiers. The style and format of marches were developed
and perfected in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. There are many types
of marches today, including those written for weddings, funerals, ceremonies,
sporting events, and circuses. All marches share some characteristics. Every
march has a strong rhythm and a meter of two or four beats per measure. The
tempo ranges from 70 beats per minute for a funeral march (Dirge) to 140 beats
or faster for a circus march (Screamer). The format of a march includes an
introduction, first strain (repeated), second strain (repeated), trio, break
strain, trio, break strain, and trio. Occasionally the break strain is omitted,
and the trio (repeated) is followed by a fourth strain (repeated). Another
variation is to return to the beginning (da capo or D.C.) and end the march
with the first and second strains. John Philip Sousa worte marches for the
United States Marine Band while he was the conductor (1880-1892) and later
toured the world with his own "Sousa Band." Of the 136 marches that Sousa
wrote, over 50 are still played by wind ensembles worldwide. HisStars & Stripes Forever is the National March of the
United States. After the turn of the century, Sousa was joined by Karl L.
King, Henry Fillmore, Fred Jewell, and Edwin Goldman. King composed many circus
marches, while Fillmore specialized in marches that featured the "Trombone
Smear."
John Philip Sousa wrote: "Marches, of course, are well known to have a peculiar
appeal to me. Although during my busy life I have written ten operas and a
hundred other things -- cantatas, symphonic poems, suites, waltzes, songs,
dances and the like -- marches are, in a sense, my musical children.... The
march speaks to a fundamental rhythm in the human organization and is answered.
A march stimulates every center of vitality, wakens the imagination.... I
can speak with confidence because I have seen men profounly moved by a few
measures of a really inspired march. But a march must be good. It must be
as free from padding as a marble statue. Every line must be carved with unerring
skill. Once padded, it ceases to be a march. There is no form of musical composition
where the harmonic structure must be more clean-cut. The whole process is
an exacting one. There must be a melody which appeals to the musical and unmusical
alike. There must be no confusion in counterpoints. The composer must, to
be sure, follow accepted harmonization...." Sousa consideredSemper Fidelis his best march.